Essays & Musings
What We’ve Been Thinking About
Thoughts on books, reading, culture, and the literary life.
A Guest Pandora’s Box: Ginn Hale’s Lord of White Hell
June 12, 2015Hello everyone and welcome to our monthly AAR blog column. The basic idea is we choose a book every month and have a discussion about it. We being Elisabeth Lane…
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“Not tonight, dear. I have a headache.” Or not.
June 10, 2015I’ve been thinking about what turns women–OK, me–on. And by turns me on I mean interested in engaging in getting busy with my main squeeze. I’ve been pondering this for two…
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A Pandora’s Box: Mary Balogh’s Only a Promise
June 5, 2015Today, Dabney and Maggie tackle the latest Survivor’s Club by Mary Balogh, Only a Promise. The book comes out on Tuesday, June 9th. We’ve tried to avoid overt spoilers. Maggie summarizes the…
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Midweek Minis, the early June edition
June 3, 2015It’s another edition of the midweek minis. This time we have three AAR reviewers, Caz, Maggie, and Dabney, sharing the short scoop on seven books and one series. Have you read…
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Pitch Perfect 2. I liked it. Here’s why.
May 25, 2015I just returned from seeing Pitch Perfect 2 with my 19 year old daughter. We both enjoyed it thoroughly. I, however, am in the minority in my social media feeds….
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The Second Half of the First Season of Outlander is almost over. We have thoughts.
May 22, 2015Today AAR’s Melanie–who is all caught up on the show–shares her thoughts about this season of Outlander. She watches the show each week with her sister, Natalie. Here’s their take:…
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Carolyn Crane tells all (OK, some) about Behind the Mask
May 15, 2015I am not going to even bother to pretend I am anything but a Carolyn Crane fan. I have enjoyed the hell out of all four of her Associates books. I…
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Midweek Minis
May 13, 2015This week, in Midweek Minis, three of AAR’s reviewers share short takes on six books. In an effort to make these mini-reviews consistent with our long-form reviews, we’ve added a sensuality rating for each book….
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A Guest Pandora’s Box: Rose Lerner’s Sweet Disorder
May 8, 2015Hello everyone and welcome to the fourth of our AAR blog columns. The basic idea is that we choose a book every month and have a discussion about it. We’re…
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Midweek Minis
April 29, 2015This week, in our new column Midweek Minis, five of AAR’s reviewers share short takes on nine books. We assess five contemps, two historicals (one set in post Restoration London), one steampunk, and…
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A Guest Pandora’s Box: Thoughts on Justified
April 24, 2015Earlier this year, I asked Twitter for suggestions for great TV. Many in the romance community suggested Justified. This show, which just concluded its six series run, stars Timothy Olyphant…
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Midweek Minis: the RITAs, Part Two
April 22, 2015The RITA nominees, the highest awards of distinction in romance fiction, are out. (The entire list is here.) We’ve reviewed many of the books nominated this year. (A list of all…
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